Lars Ulrich promises Beats 1 show will bring them closer to fans

Metallica's Lars Ulrich is hosting a show on Apple Music's Beats 1 radio and has James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo as his special guests

Metallica's Lars Ulrich says his Beats 1 radio show will bring them closer to their fans.

The 53-year-old drummer has promised they'll reconnect with their supporters through the forthcoming pre-recorded episodes of the Apple Music show, in which he interviewed the group's frontman James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo.

He said: "I listened to Kirk's episode yesterday, and it's definitely unlike anything that Metallica fans have ever heard. Each of them put together a playlist that reflects certain elements of their past - stuff from back in the day and stuff that helped shape who they are musically - and I learned a lot."

Recorded during the band's 'WorldWired' tour, one hour has been dedicated to each member and they'll air on Sundays at 6 p.m. EST on Apple Music's Beats 1 radio.

Hammett's episode will air today (30.07.17), Trujillo on August 6 and Hetfield on August 13th.

Speaking about Hammett, Ulrich said he has enjoyed learning about his musical influences.

He told Rolling Stone: "He has a very analytical mind about music. His cast the net very wide with his playlist, so it goes from Iron Maiden to the Beatles to John Coltrane to Radiohead.

"I'm not gonna b******t you. We don't sit around and necessarily have conversations about John Coltrane on a day-to-day basis. So it's fun for me to reconnect with all the fellas again ... "

But he was also keen to shine a light on unknown bands.

He added: "There's an awful lot of great music out there - much more than I thought - that doesn't really get a chance to be highlighted, because of the demise of the music business.

"I've been playing Brutus, who are great, from Belgium. There's a fantastic band out of Denmark called Baby in Vain. There's Counterfeit from England, who we've been playing a bunch. And there's an amazing band who reside in the Bay Area but are from Afghanistan called Kabul Dreams, who I just love. Their story is unbelievable. So to get a chance to push that out to people is a really special thing."